


The Circle of Life

by xspike4evax



Category: Angel: the Series
Genre: Drabble, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-26
Updated: 2016-05-26
Packaged: 2018-07-10 08:40:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6975958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xspike4evax/pseuds/xspike4evax
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Willow arrives at Angel's after using too much magic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Circle of Life

**Author's Note:**

> Prompts: Conjour & Baffled from the bad_swa prompt table

Willow had changed since Angel had seen her last. Her body radiated tension and seemed more defensive in posture than he ever remembered seeing her. The smile that had once come so easily to her lips was nowhere to be seen. She looked like she had forgotten how.  
What had done this to her?

Wesley said it was magic. 

How had her friends allowed this to happen to her? 

Angel was baffled. Staring at her now he found it almost impossible to conjure up in his mind’s eye the shy awkward teenager who had yelled at him for not taking Buffy for coffee and the sweet caring girl who had sat with him as he lay dying with poison running through his system. 

He reached out to touch her but Willow cringed away, as if it would cause her physical pain. Angel grabbed her arms anyway, not caring if she didn’t want his touch. This was more important, the need to find Willow in there somewhere. He was frightened, Angel realised.   
This shadow standing in the foyer frightened him more than anything he had faced in a long time. Of all the people who could be lost, Angel couldn’t stand to think of Willow as one of them. Not her. Not the girl who had given him back his soul. 

Willow didn’t fight him as his hands curled around her arms, and Angel gentled his hold on her, trying to convey everything in that one touch and know he would fall spectacularly short. Finally her eyes lifted to meet his; the haunted look in them shattered him. 

His voice was soft, and he wondered if Willow would notice the gruff edge to it. “I can help.” 

She didn’t say anything, but her eyes closed briefly and her shoulders sagged slightly. Angel relaxed, Willow would allow him to help her. It was funny how their lives were so intertwined they had come full circle: she had saved his soul and now he would save hers.


End file.
